The main objectives in this application for a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (MRSDA) are to provide the means for the candidate's long-term career development and training in aging, age-related functional disabilities, and their relationship to nutritional factors, and to allow for the more immediate goal of analysis of data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) and the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS), with regards to the relationship between functional status of the elderly and nutritional factors. Despite recent interest in the concept of successful aging, the role of nutritional factor has not yet been adequately studied. Although, a few studies have indicated that Body Mass Index, both high and low, are associated with greater functional disability, to date no large scale studies have been undertaken that incorporate nutritional status and dietary actors in a comprehensive model that also accounts for the host of other covariates affecting this relationship. Also, many methodological issues, such as the existence of unobservable heterogeneity and of endogenenous explanatory variables, have not been addressed. During the initial phase of this proposal, the candidate, a physician and nutritional epidemiologist will 1) develop a thorough understanding of the literature on the demography of aging in general, 2) study age-related changes patterns of disability and functional status, 3) gain theoretical and practical experience in issues associated with measurement of functional status in the elderly, and 4) acquire further necessary analytic skills to allow analysis of complex causal associations in longitudinal data. These objectives will be accomplished in close collaboration with Dr. Kenneth Manton of the Duke Center for Demographic Studies, as primary mentor, Dr. Bob Wallace of University of Iowa, as consultant, and Dr. Barry Popkin of UNC Department of Nutrition and the Carolina Papulation Center, as faculty advisor. During the second phase of the MRSDA, analysis will be undertaken of data from the CHNS and the RLMS, with the aims of: -1) understanding the demographic characteristics of the elderly populations in these data sets, 2) analyzing the pattern of functional disability within these populations, 3) understanding the nutritional status as well as the dietary patterns of the elderly, and 40 analyzing the nutritional determinants of functional status of the elderly within the context of a complex set of confounders and covariates.